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5.032 TERRP 12.3.01 Healthy Shabu Shabu: Fish Fillet Set

-Cycle 5, Item 32-

6 (Thu) February 2014

-Japanese-

Fish Fillet Set

3.0

at Healthy Shabu Shabu (Robinsons Place)

-Ermita, Manila-

with C Audrey-Lopez, Endaluz M, K Khow, T Lee, C&J Rarick, et al.

Try Every Restaurant in Robinsons Place (TERRP). In Manila through mid-April, living above Robinsons Place, I'm going to attempt eating my way through the mall. As far as I know, nobody has ever done anything like this, so this could be my unique contribution to the food/blog scene of Manila. Given time constraints, I'll begin with the 30 (or so) establishments on the first floor, working my way up.

This is the 12th restaurant in the series, the 1st from the 3rd floor. Despite the plan, I didn't have any choice on the venue this evening.

That dude sitting on the far left, he was there when we arrived, there when we left, same position.

Healthy Shabu Shabu is a Japanese restaurant chain. Five locations throughout Metro Manila, including one in Robinsons Place, Midtown Wing. Serves only shabu shabu. Healthy. Beef, pork, chicken, fish, seafood, balls of various types, dumplings, noodles, veggies, all in various combinations and amounts. Each diner gets an individual hotpot, built right into the table.

Most basic sets starting at around 350 pesos per portion, though most adults would probably need about 2 portions.

A new trick that I picked up this evening: poaching an egg in a ladle dipped in the stock.

With the taro root, a bowl of noodles to finish off the meal.

What a fine meal. I ordered the fish fillet set, which included 4 pieces of cream dory--a small fish with firm mildy-flavored white flesh; in the Philippines "fish" often = cream dory--plus a plate of sides, as well as an egg. I also got a plate of beef loin à la carte, just in case. It was bland, but that's a positive, given that beef here can be vaguely stinky. In fact, everything was kinda bland in a positive way, making me feel cleansed. Especially after last night's abomination. In the end, despite the initial blandness, the stock had nevertheless developed into a super-rich broth, excellent for the final batch of noodles and poached egg. Good stuff.